It was easy, too! I heated some cheap olive oil and herbs from my garden over low heat for about two hours, until the herbs were crispy. Then I strained it into a glass jar over a mixture of sea and kosher salt. I tried it out on my hands, and OMG! They feel so soft and smooth. Exactly like my skin feels when I pay upwards of 25 dollars for a teeny jar from the department stores. I used lemon balm and spearmint fresh out of my garden, and then added fresh orange zest for a minty, citrus scrub. I made a whopping big jar of it for about 7 bucks!
I am inordinately tickled with myself. I can’t wait to take a shower!
Antigen, I just added oil until I had the consistency I was familiar with from commercially produced brands. I know I used about 1.5 cups of salt (1 cup sea salt and .5 cup kosher) and I’d say I ended up using ~3/4 cup or so of infused oil.
dwyr, this stuff is supposed to act as an exfoliant/moisturizer. You scoop out a handful of oily salt and scrub it on your rough spots! Smooth and supple skin is the result.
Thanks for the guidelines/recipe, FaerieBeth. I’ve wamted to make this for quite a while but just funked out when it came to experimenting around with it. Your herb mixture sounds great, btw. I hadn’t thought of the touch of citrus. I love what that stuff does for my skin but refuse to pay the insane prices charged in froufrou shops.
I’d thought about using rosemary, since I love clean scents, with possibly a touch of mint to gentle it down. Any thoughts about mixtures, since you’re good at this?
Reminds me of when the girlfriend and I made fizzy bath bombs. Citric acid, baking soda, and epsom salt mixed together (don’t remember the proportions), then add fragerence oil to olive (or another carrier) oil, blend into a thickish constincy, then form into molds.
“Good at this” may be too strong a statement to use here, but I do know some herbs I like to use in beauty/cosmetic preparations. Rosemary is at the top of the list. I prefer spearmint over peppermint, but it’s mainly a personal preference. I have used sage and citrus peel (lime, lemon, orange, or grapefruit) with good results. For something really skin noursihing, I add calendula and comfrey in with the more heavily scented herbs. When I have the extra money, I like to buy and add essential oils to boost the fragrance. I’m saving for some sandalwood and rose, currently.
My local herbal group made a lovely skin balm with lemon balm, comfrey, calendula, lavender, rosemary, and sage. We stirred in beeswax with the hot oil at the end so it would actually function as a cream instead of an oil. It works great on rough spots.
I tried to make some again, not long ago, with only lemon balm. I put in too much beeswax, so that batch functions as furniture polish :smack: It makes the tables shine and smell so nice!
